Preachers. 


Physicians, 


Teachers. 


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MISSIONARY MANUAL. 
Purpose. Tuts Manual is intended to furnish all whom it may concern, 


the information necessary to guide them in entering upon and 
prosecuting the mission work of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South. It is published by direction of the Board of 
Missions, and embodies the regulations adopted from time to 
time, subject to modifications by the Board at its annual meet- 
ing. 

APPLICANTS. 

Applicants for employment in our mission fields, whether 
men or women, are expected to possess all the qualifications 
requisite for success at home. 

1. Preachers will have need of all their intellectual ability 
developed by training and by three or four years’ service in the 
home Church. Aptitude for the acquisition of languages is an 
especially desirable qualification. 

It is well to consider that missionaries do not enter into or- 
ganized and established societies, but must themselves, for the 
most part out of raw material, build up the Church, beginning 
at the foundation. They can not, therefore, go to the foreign 
fields relying upon an educated Christian sentiment, like that 
operative in home communities, to aid in directing their work. 
They have first to create the sentiment; hence they need some 
practical understanding of the economy of the Church, and 
some experience in the conduct of its affairs before they go 
forth. 

2. Physicians must have the regular medical education and 
degree required for practise in this country. They must also 
be prepared to devote themselves personally, as well as profes- 
sionally, to the furtherance of the gospel. It is therefore ex- 
pected that they shall be persons of sound piety, who both 
know and love Methodist doctrine and discipline. 

3. Teachers should have the special fitness for such work in- 
herent in character, as also that which results from education 
and experience. Of course the only teaching contemplated in 
our mission work is that which is based upon the gospel. All 
instruction is to be subordinated to the “truth as it is in Jesus.” 
It is therefore expected that all who apply for positions as 
teachers in our missions shall be personally devoted to Christ, 
and close students of his word. 


MIssIonaRyY MANUAL. 


APPLICATIONS. 


1. Applications for appointment to mission work must be 
made to the Corresponding Secretary of the Board of Missions, 
whose duty is to inquire into the character and qualifications 
of the applicants and to furnish the information to the Com- 
mittee on Candidates. 

2. Every application must be made in writing, under the 
hand of the applicant. It should contain a distinct and concise 
statement of all that is necessary to enable the committee to 
judge of his fitness for the work, especially the items following: 
Full name; name of parents; age, native place, and place of 
residence; date of conversion and of admission into the Church ; 
physical condition; educational grade; former occupation or 
profession; motives and influences impelling to mission work; 
and the purpose of the applicant to devote himself for life to 
the work. In addition, he will be expected to answer such 
questions as may be put by the Secretary. 

‘ Every preacher should state, in addition to the foregoing, 
the date of his license to preach and of admission into the 
traveling connection, the Conference to which he belongs, and 
the appointments he has received. 

Every physician should state when and from what institu. 
tion he received his degree, how long he has been in practise 
and whether his practise has been general or restricted to a 
specialty. 

Every teacher should state when and from what institution 
he has received his certificate or diploma, and what amount 
and kind of experience he or she has had. 

3. Testimonials as to standing and qualifications should ac- 
company all applications made to the Board. 

These should come, in the case of a preacher, from his pre- 
siding elder and others, including laymen, who have had 
knowledge of his life and work. Physicians and _ teachers 
should present certificates from their pastors and testimonials 
from others, lay and clerical, to whom they are known. 

4, Every applicant shall present a certificate of health from 
his family physician, or one who has known him long enough 
to form a valid judgment of his constitution and state of health. 
In addition, a thorcugh medical examination shall be made by 
another competent physician and the result certified by him to 
the Board. 

The wives of applicants are expected to comply with these 
regulations relating to health as fully as their husbands. 


ACCEPTANCE AND APPOINTMENT. 


Upon the acceptance of an applicant for mission work, he is 
subject to appointment by the bishop in charge of the particu- 
lar field for which the applicant may have special qualification, 


Direction 
of Appli- 
cation. 


Character 
of Appli- 
cation. 


Testimonials, 


Medical 
Certificate. 


Appointment 
and Outfit. 


Expense of 
Course of 
Study. 


Time and 
Labor of 
Mission- 
aries. 


Translation 


Appeals for 
Aid. 


Support. 


Furloughs. 


MIssIoNARY MANUAL. 


but can not look to the Board for support until he has reached 
the field assigned him. Necessary funds for outfit and travel- 
ing expenses to foreign mission fields will be provided. 

It is not the usage of the Board to pay the expense of any 
course of study preparatory to mission work; but if expense be 
incurred under the direction of the Board, after acceptance and 
appointment, in acquiring thé language of the country to which 
the appointment is made, or in attendance upon medical lec- 
tures, provision will be made for its payment. It must be un- 
derstood that no applicant, after acceptance, may enter into 
any engagement involving expense on the part of the Board 
unless expressly authorized to do so. 


REGULATIONS. 


1, Missionaries in the field are expected to conform in all 
respects to the regulations of the Board. It is understood that 
their time and labor are to be devoted, under the direction of 
the Board, exclusively to the interest of the missions with which 
they are connected; and they may in no case enter into en- 
gagements affecting their relations to the missions, or receive 
compensation for work so undertaken, unless authorized by the 
Board. 

2. The work of translating and printing is confessedly of 
great importance, and should be undertaken only by competent 
hands, and under restrictions and conditions that may serve as 
a safeguard against the misdirection of abilities and the waste 
of time that might more profitably be otherwise employed. It 
is therefore required that no missionary shall attempt such 
work without the consent of the Board. 

3. All our missionaries in foreign fields are forbidden to ap- 
peal to the Church through the public prints, or otherwise, for 
pecuniary aid in any missionary enterprise without the ap- 
proval of the Board of Missions. 

4, Missionaries, upon entering the field assigned them, should 
use diligence in the study of the language, and such other stud- 
ies as may qualify them for their work, under the direction of 
the superintendent of the mission or the presiding elder of the 
district. 

5. It is specially needful in the foreign fields that the mis- 
sionary should be without anxiety about the means of living, 
that he may be free for the greatest possible service in the 
cause of Christ. The amount allowed by the Board for the 
support of missionaries is not to be regarded in the light of 
compensation, but simply as expressing what is necessary to the 
highest efficiency of the laborer in his work. 

‘6. No missionary shall return to the United States without 
permission of the Board, or be absent from his work without the 
consent of his presiding elder or the superintendent of the 


MIssIoNARY MANUAL. 


mission. No fixed rule in regard to the return of a missionary 
to this country is possible or desirable. Each case must be de- 
termined by the Board upon its own merits. 

When a missionary shail return, or be absent from his work 
for any considerable length of time, his salary shall cease upon 
the date of his departure from the field. The Board may, in 
case of return or necessary absence, make such provision for his 
traveling expenses and support as the circumstances require. 

The allowance made to returned missionaries will be charged 
to the account of the mission to which they were last assigned. 

7. The Discipline makes it obligatory upon the Board of 
Missions that it “shall require each missionary to make a quar- 
terly report to the Secretary of his operations and of the state 
and prospects of the work in his charge.” 

It is expected that every missionary shall keep an account of 
all matters affecting the interests of his mission, and report the 
same to the Corresponding Secretary of the Board as often as 
may seem desirable. 

It is also expected and desired that our missionaries in foreign 
fields write fully and freely to the Secretaries concerning their 
work. In case any missionary may deem it a duty to make 
adverse criticisms upon the management of the Board or of any 
of its representatives in the field, such communication shall not 
be made to the press or to any private individual, but to the 
Corresponding Secretary of the Board. Any missionary offend- 
ing against this regulation will be regarded as having proved 
himself unworthy longer to remain in the service of the Board. 

8. The superintendent or treasurer, or the presiding elders 
of districts, of each mission will forward to the Treasurer of the 
Board, at the end of each quarter, a detailed account of all 
moneys received from whatever source, and the payments 
made; and at the end of the year to the Corresponding Secre- 
tary a particular statement of the nature, location, condition, 
and estimated value of all the property of the mission. 

In case money is paid in aggregate by the treasurer of a mis- 
sion to the presiding elders of districts, said treasurer shall 
audit the accounts of said presiding elders before they are sent 
forward, the approval of the mission treasurer to be taken as 
sufficient voucher for payments that agree with appropriations. 

In all cases, except for personal salary, where drafts on the 
Treasurer of the Board of Missions are made payable to the 
superintendent or treasurer of a mission, or to the presiding 
elder of a district, on the disbursement thereof, said superin- 
tendent or treasurer, or presiding elder, shall take receipts in 
duplicate, one of which must be forwarded to the Treasurer; or, 
if this is impracticable in any case, some satisfactory voucher, 
so as to show the exact application of the money. 

9. It is essential to the judicious and safe management of 


Provision for 
furloughs. 


Reports of 
Work, 


Communica- 
tions to | 
Secretaries 


Money ana 
Property 
Reports. 


Vouchers. 


Unauthorized 
investments 


Time of 
estimate 
meeting, 


MISSIONARY MANUAL. 


affairs that these requirements be strictly observed. Without 
full and precise information, confusion and embarrassment 
must ensue. 

10. No missionary or missionary superintendent shall make 
any investment for the Board or create a liability against it 
without its authority. 

11. Any missionary violating the instructions of the Board 
may forfeit his claims upon the funds of the Board, or be dis- 
missed from its service. 

12. The Committee on Estimates shall hold its meeting one 
month in advance of the meeting of the Board, which begins on 
Wednesday after the first Tuesday in the month of May. It is, 
therefore, necessary that all reports, statements, and estimates 
intended for the action of the Board should be in the hands of 
the Corresponding Secretary not later than the first of March. 


MISCELLANEOUS. 


No appropriation of mission funds shall be made to any mis- 
sion school in foreign fields in which instruction based upon 
the Bible, or parts thereof, is not regularly given to all the 
classes as a part of the prescribed curriculum of the school. 





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